Most common AR15 parts that fail

nosman

nosman

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Just wanted to hear your guys input on what are the most common items to fail or “break” on the AR15 platform? Stocking up on parts while I still can. I was thinking extra cam bolts, rings, gas block maybe an extractor but I’m not sure, haven’t been around them long enough to know. Thanks for the help
 
Gas rings wear out. I've been at a range where a guy broke a bolt during firing. Trigger pins, depending on their style and the trigger style, might walk out or lose their captive method. That's about all I've seen though.
 
Pretty much anything around the bolt. Bolts break, gas rings and extractors wear out. Firing pins break off the tip. Gas keys can come loose or the screws holding them in will break. And barrels wear out eventually, too. Also the pins holding trigger and hammer can break. Sears will wear and hammers can chip. However, i would say any decent AR15 in 5.56 will run fine for at least 5000 rounds. Stuff starts to break after that, usually long after that.
 
Both are new, just want to make sure I have some of the more common items that tend to wear out or break. Yes baton the hatches and lock the doors. Don’t know what’s coming in the new year. I want to be prepared just in case they do ban our beloved firearms. It would really suck to need something so minor and not be able to buy parts anymore. Thanks a lot, this helps me pick and choose the items I should buy now.
 
The only thing that has failed in 30+ years of shooting AR15s, and thousands of rounds, for me was a sheared off bolt lug. I now keep a complete bolt as a spare but I have never needed to use it yet.
 
The only thing that has ever broken on me was an extractor. The rest of the spares are for when small parts roll or fly off the table and disappear into another dimension. Get yourself the extractor spring, spring insert, and o-ring for the extractor. And a firing pin retaining pin or two wound't hurt to have. Most retailers sell spare part packs which has all that and more.
 
A complete spare BCG might be a good idea, especially if a tricky problem comes up at an inopportune time and you want back into the match. Then you can dissect and debug the failure later, since almost all the small high-stress bits are in it somewhere.
 
One of the AR15's I had was a Colt. I used it for about 15 years and logged it's use. The Rifle had 17,000 rds use. About 12,000 til 15,000 I had to replace the extractor, cam pin(worn), and the buffer tube and buttstock.

The extractor wore down and had a small chip. It still functioned but I replaced it anyway.

The cam pin was working fine but I noticed it was getting grooved by the bolt carrier cam channel.

The butt stock and buffer tube was the hole in the tube and pin in the stock were wearing enough that one day they failed to stay engaged and the stock collapsed. It was an old 2 position. Resulted in my nose smashed into the charging handle and splitting it open inside and outside my nose. I have ever since replaced collapsible stocks and tubes every 10k. I also am rather weary of my Derya Mk12. The thought of what would happen with a 12ga in the same situation is unnerving. I'm sure that is a unique situation and they will never fail again on any ones AR.

My advice would be to stock up on bolt assembly parts or have an entire spare bolt assembly.

Cheers
Moe
 
I have at least 5000 rounds through a S&W 1st Gen M&P15.

Nothing has failed yet.

It’s been cleaned maybe 3 times, but lubed often.

Flame away.
 
Thanks a lot everyone, a complete bolt carrier group seems to me the way too go. Then I have everything and it won’t matter what fails then. Really appreciate your input and shared knowledge.
 
The shooter behind the gun often fails, negligent discharged, forget to seat the mag in all the way.

Oh. You are talking about the mechanical parts. 13 years and the only thing i had to replace on my AR was the gas rings, extractor spring and bolt head.
 
Upon cleaning I found that I had a gas ring that was missing a piece of metal.Thats it . Rifle was perfectly fonctioning
 
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